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While things were easier for a lot of white immigrants than immigrants of other races, acting like white immigrants had a rosy time once they got over here is kind of misleading, too. Despite being white, Irish or Polish peasants were hardly treated like they were “the right” kind of immigrants and were often subject to, well–exactly the kinds discrimination described in this comic. (Refusal of jobs, home ownership, and the tendency to be unfairly criminalized.)

That being said, the fortunes of white immigrants in the US were undoubtedly better than for example, black people who endured centuries of systemic oppression and racism or American Indians who lived through constant years of cultural suppression and conquest. (if you compare the fates of said white immigrants before they moved, on the other hand… their lot in life was often little better than some of the worst historical forms of racism.) But In US history, at least, there’s only one “right kind” of immigrant–the ones that stay home.

I keep meeting this white guy from the comic in Japan. He’s at ground level here (sometimes half a step up or down). You can spot the entitled ones a mile away. Met with some minor inconvenience (“what?! you ONLY have two English speakers on staff?!” or “this apartment lease is confusing!”), he screams “racism”. In reality, where these minor inconveniences don’t exist for everyone, they are simply due to language barriers.